Student Life

Students in the Program in Neuroscience share a large office in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and have full access to other Department facilities, such as the lunchroom and library. Students are also invited to all formal and informal activities of the Department, including seminars, retreats, and various social activities. The Program also provides funds for student organized dinner meetings where students can present journal articles or review their research.

The Program students organize a Fall Retreat that takes place in September at the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole. Students stay in cottages, organize and cook their own meals, and hear talks from their peers. Incoming students take this opportunity to meet other students in the Program and to hear about opportunities for courses and rotations.

The Spring Symposium is a biannual two-day event organized by Program students. A topic in Neuroscience is determined and several speakers are invited. The first day consists of a series of talks by the invited speakers, followed by a dinner for all members of the Program. On the second day, students meet with the speakers for smaller, informal roundtable discussions. Recent Spring Symposium topics have been "Subcellular Organization of Neuronal Function", "Simple Rules, Complex Systems. Emerging Principles of Neural and Neural-like Systems" and "Neural Protheses and Brain-Computer Interfaces".

Students play an active part in interviewing applicants for admission into the Program. In January several dozen applicants are invited to visit the HMS campus for a weekend for a series of formal and informal interviews. Students volunteer to take applicants to dinner and for various social outings, and to answer applicants' questions about the Program, Harvard, and life in Boston in general.